Little survey research exists that categorises the body shapes of African-American women or attempts to understand how these impact their clothing choices. This study profiled 153 professional African-American women regarding the influence of body shape and fit preference on their perceptions of body cathexis (degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one's body) (Secord, P. and Jourard, S., 1953. The appraisal of body cathexis: body cathexis and the self. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 17, 343-347) and clothing benefits sought (Hwang, J., 1996. Relationships between body-cathexis, clothing benefits sought, and clothing behaviors, and effects of importance of meeting the ideal body image and clothing attitude. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg) for tailored career apparel. The body shapes (hourglass, rectangle, pear and inverted triangle) were self-reported. Fit preference was selected from a set of line drawings depicting a tailored jacket and pant as fitted, semi-fitted or loosely fitted. Body cathexis was rated for 19 body components. The assessed clothing benefits included fashion image, figure flaw compensation, sex appeal, clothing emphasis and fashion innovativeness. Analyses indicated an interaction effect between body shape and fit preference with several direct correlations for body cathexis and clothing benefits sought. The methods and practical implications are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.